Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talked by phone with Citigroup's Robert Rubin and consulted with a host of bigtime financial players amid the worsening credit crunch that pushed Wall Street into a nosedive.

He wasn't in a boiler room Aug. 8 but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke certainly was feeling the heat when he talked by phone with Citigroup chairman Robert Rubin and consulted with a host of bigtime financial players amid a worsening credit crunch that pushed Wall Street into a nosedive.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talked to Citigroup chairman Robert Rubin and other big financial players when a credit crunch took a turn for the worse in August and sent stocks on Wall Street careening wildly.

The dollar rose to the highest level in more than eight months against the euro Wednesday as concern about political instability and weak economic growth in Europe weighed on the multi-country currency.